Road Runner River
Road Runner River is a log flume dark ride at Universal Animation Studios in Universal Studios Canada. Ride Summary Queue Riders walk through a desert themed area. Once reaching the boarding station, riders can see signs saying "You are about to expirience a cruise through the worlds only river located in a desert. Enjoy the ride." Ride Riders enter a 4-row, 1-seater log. Their log leaves the boarding area and floats through the desert. The log heads forward into a intersection between two paths. There are signs for each path. The left path has a sign reading "To the Road Runner River". The right path has a sign reading "Warning: Rapid River Ahead". The log then makes a right turn and bumps along the intense Rapid River. After plummeting down 25-feet, the log floats down the calm river, passing by Wile E. Coyote, who is building a trap to catch the Roadrunner. The Roadrunner zooms over the tripwire but the crate does not fall. Coyote tocuhes the crate, wondering if it will fall, and it does and sqaushes him. Riders then continue on through the desert and see Coyote on a rocket, waiting for Roadrunner to pass by him. Roadrunner passes by and Coyote launches the rocket, hoping to catch up with him. Riders launch forward with Coyote, only to find the Roadrunner zoomed off in a different direction. Coyote zooms off the edge of a cliff, and then falls down the cliff. Riders, fall down 30-feet with him. Riders float down the river and see Coyote attatching a rubber band to two cactuses, forming a sling shot. As Roadrunner passes by, he places himself into the sling shot and flies forward towards Roadrunner. Riders zoom forward with the Coyote too. They chase Roadrunner down the river until they reach a cliff. Roadrunner rushes down the cliff. Riders teeter over the edge of the cliff before plummeting down 50-feet down the cliff. As riders float back to the boarding area, they get a glimpse of Roadrunner looking at Coyote, who is stuck in a cactus. Riders return to the boarding area and exit the ride. Mechanics Most of the ride is indoors with animatronics and set pecies to look like the desert. Animatronic Wile E. Coyotes are used during the ride. Roadrunner (in most scenes) is a video projection. To make it look like Roadrunner is running over the wire, a 3-D projection (using Musion Eyeliner) of him running is used. So the Coyote aniamtronic doesn't get damaged, the crate has no bottom, so when it looks like the crate is squahing him, he is actually inside the crate. Coyote and Roadrunner in the second scene are both Musion projections. The entire chase scene and Coyote making the sling shot all take place inside a projection dome. The animation of Coyote chasing Roadrunner is a Computer Animated projection on a small 360-degree dome screen. The 50-foot drop is behind the front of the screen, so the screen lifts up to allow the log to pass through it. The 50-foot drop and everything after it is outdoors. Everything before it is indoors. Roadrunner and Coyote in the cactus at the end is an animated scultpure/animtronic. Every animation during the ride is computer animated. The scenery and characters are CGI. Trivia * Saftey Restriant: Lap Bar * Universal Red Carpet Access and Single Rider available.